A Hogwarts Christmas Carol
by Randomwolf1
Summary: The novel 'A Christmas Carol' redone Harry Potter style. Oneshot. probably OOC. Read and Review.


(Author's Note: I do not own _Harry Potter_ or _A Christmas Carol)_

**A Hogwarts Christmas Carol**

_The Dungeon was silent, the bell was about to ring. Everyone was poised to run out of the classroom when suddenly, Professor Snape spoke._

"Now class, I want you to write a ten page essay on the properties and effects of Veritaserum by the end of the holidays."

"But Professor, it's Christmas!" exclaimed Neville Longbottom

"Detention Longbottom, four o'clock tomorrow. And as for the rest of you, it's now a fifty page essay that you have to write."

_Professor Snape dismissed the class, congratulating himself on a job well done; or rather, a class well tormented. That night, just as he was getting settled into bed, __he was woken by a mysterious figure._

"Severus Snape"

"Who are you?"

"I am the ghost of Professor Rupert, I taught Potions before Professor Slughorn. In life I was like you, cold and cruel, but when I died, an ancient curse prevented me from moving on. Beware, Snape. Tonight you will be visited by three spirits."

"Wait, Rupert. Don't go!" Snape shouted after him, but he was gone.

_Snape fell asleep, but was soon woken again. __This time in the form of Ronald Weasley._

"Weasley? This had better be important!"

"I am not Ronald Weasley, I am merely taking the form of someone familiar to you. I am, for all intents and purposes, the Ghost of Christmas Past."

"Well, you certainly don't talk like Weasley, too intelligent."

_In a swirl of light and colour, the bedroom melted away and was replaced with another scene, it was the Hogwarts Entrance Hall, and all the students were preparing to leave for the Christmas holidays, except one._

"I wonder who that sad little boy on the stairs is"

"That…why, that's me. The first year I went to Hogwarts. I was the only student who stayed over Christmas that year"

"And who is that pretty young girl you're staring at?"

"That's Lily Evans, I loved her. She…she…she ran off with that awful Potter boy and left me…alone"

"Let me show you a different scene, things got better, right?"

_The scene changed, they were now floating above the Great Hall, looking down at the festivities._

"Remember this?"

"I remember now, this is year I got my first job at Hogwarts. I remember Dumbledore used to put on the best parties. Wonderful man, Dumbledore was. Why are you showing me this? Are you trying to change my mind?"

"My time is up. I really must be going.

"Good riddance"

_Snape found himself back in his bed, under the covers. He started to fall asleep when another spirit woke him__, this one in the form or Hermione Granger._

"Granger? What the…oh, you're the next ghost aren't you?"

"Correct, I am the Ghost of Christmas Present"

"All right, let's get this over with"

_Again, his bedroom vanished, replaced with the Gryffindor Boys' Dorm. Where Ron Weasley, Harry Potter, and Neville Longbottom were sitting gloomily on the beds, Hermione ran into the room._

"Harry, Ron, Neville" she said, "come on down, you're missing a great Christmas party, Fred and George stole some Firewhiskey and they're chugging it with eggnog"

"We can't, Hermione, we have to finish this essay" exclaimed Ron and Harry simultaneously.

"Well I guess…oh what the heck, it's Christmas. I'll do it for you, even though it's a lot of work and I'm only one person and they all have to be different and the spell to copy your handwriting is dreadfully complicated, I'll manage."

"Hermione, you're a lifesaver" said Ron.

"Oh so that's their game eh? Well, they'll all get zeroes. I'll see that Fred and George are scrubbing the crusty bits off of cauldrons until their fingers fall off" said Snape.

"You don't get it do you?" asked Ghost-Hermione, "Hermione Granger is sacrificing her time so that her friends can have fun at the party. Do you know how hard it is to write four different 500 word essays all in different handwriting and writing styles? It's not easy, I'll tell you that"

"I had no idea" replied Snape, rather taken aback.

_Harry, Ron, and Hermione all left the room, but Neville stayed behind, closed and locked the door, and sat on his bed, weeping._

"I can't believe it," he said, "this huge essay, now I have a detention, now my Gran's going to send me a Howler. I can't take it, nobody even notices me, except as that fat kid with the bad memory or a distant associate of Harry Potter. My life sucks, and it's all because of Professor Snape…he never helps me in class…the insults…" said Neville between sobs.

_Neville reached for the knife lying on the bedside table, the knife was stained red. He brought the knife up to his wrist, held it there for a few seconds…_

"Longbottom, no!" cried Snape, "Don't do this to yourself"

"He can't hear you," replied the Hermione-Ghost.

_Neville let the knife fall, his hands shaking as he set it on the bedside table._

"Such a shame that such a happy occasion should include this much suffering. And it's all because of you. Perhaps you and Neville should see a psychiatrist together, maybe work out why you seem to have it in for him."

"But I didn't want this. Please, show me the party or the Slytherins, something,"

"I'm sorry; it's time for me to go."

_The spirit and the dorm vanished, replaced once more by the familiar sight of Snape's bedroom. Scarcely five minutes had passed when he was aroused by a third spirit; this one in the shape of __Harry Potter._

"And I suppose you're the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come?"

_The Harry-Ghost nodded, and pointed his finger to Snape's left. They were on the foggy Grounds, Snape looked and saw two shadowy figures talking amongst themselves._

"Man, I felt sorry for that Snape, I did. Going like that, when You-Know-Who decided he wasn't useful anymore."

"I didn't, Snape was a rotton teacher and an even worse person, did you hear he made Longbottom commit suicide? Horrible thing, the poor boy was so depressed he just couldn't take it anymore. At least all his things got donated to a good charity, and now that he's gone we can say whatever we want about him."

"Gone? Gone where? Tell me spirit!"

_The Harry-Ghost said nothing, but pointed to a fresh grave, the name 'Severus Snape' was engraved on the headstone in plain letters, not the __lovely cursive script found on most wizarding graves. As he was staring at it, someone came up from behind and kicked it over, the other side had things like 'good riddance' and 'thank goodness , he's gone for good' written on it._

"But what does this mean? Is there still time to change? Surely this is not what will be, but what might be! Oh, tell me spirit, do I still have time?"

_The Harry-Ghost merely shrugged silently and looked around sadly. Suddenly, Snape woke up, he was in his own bed again, and it was morning. He looked at the calander, Christmas morning, there was still time! Snape got dressed as fast as he could, tipped Dobby, the House Elf a knut, and ran to Gryffindor Tower, said the password, and went in to the Common Room, where the party was still on. Everyone stopped as he approached, but to their surprise, he smiled and gestured for them to continue. He ran up the Boy's staircase, into the dorm, and told Neville it would be all right, the detention was cancelled __and he didn't have to do the essay. Then he went to every House's Common Room, excusing everyone of all their homework. From then on, every Christmas he would show an unusual display of kindness and let the class take the last day before the holidays off._

(Author's Note: So, what did you think? A bit OOC eh? R&R&let me know if it was any good. Who knows, if it's good enough, I may write one with Col. Mustang from FMA, or Sasuke from Naruto, or…well, the possibilities are endless.)


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